European Shares Hold Steady Ahead Of Central Bank Decisions

(RTTNews) - European stocks were seeing modest gains on Wednesday, as investors digested mixed manufacturing data from China and awaited interest-rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England for directional cues.

Meanwhile, Eurozone manufacturing PMI has been finalized at 48.8 in January, a five-month high and up from December's 47.8.

Separate data published by the British Retail Consortium showed that U.K. shop price inflation hit a record high in January as retailers offered fewer discounts amid rising input costs,

The BRC- NielsenIQ shop price index rose 8.0 percent on a yearly basis in January following a 7.3 percent gain in December.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 454.34 after declining 0.3 percent on Tuesday.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index were marginally higher, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent.

Novartis AG shares declined 1.3 percent. The Swiss drug major reported sharply lower profit in its fourth quarter on lower sales and the absence of prior year's hefty Roche income.

British telecom major Vodafone Group fell 2.5 percent after Q3 revenue growth slowed. Sports-betting and gaming group Entain rallied 2.4 percent after lifting its profit outlook.

Halma added 2.5 percent after announcing it has acquired a manufacturer of fire detection products in a £22m deal.

Hannover Re shares slumped 4.3 percent. In order to take account of the growth in the property and casualty reinsurance portfolio and the increased loss expectation from natural catastrophes, the German reinsurer has increased its net major-loss budget for 2023 to 1.725 billion euros.